Side Effects (oneshot)
by CeceTheAuthor
Summary: An excess of magic causes the miraculous to have side effects. Adrien learns this the hard way one day.


It was just your average morning in Paris. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and everything was calm. No akumas in sight.

Adrien woke up and stretched his arms out above his head, letting out a loud yawn. He nudged his sleeping kwami, Plagg, who woke up with a grumble before zipping away to fetch another slice of his beloved cheese.

Getting dressed for school, Adrien could hear as Plagg snickered at him for a reason unknown to him. The small kwami's laughter became louder and louder with every passing second.

"What?" Adrien asked, beginning to become agitated and slightly self conscious. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. You should probably continue getting ready. Look in the mirror and get rid of that bed head, you know." Plagg replied and swallowed his cheese whole, rubbing his now full stomach as he purred in content.

Adrien frowned at the vague response he had received but shrugged it off before heading into his bathroom to do his daily skin care routine and get rid of his so called bed head. He was a model after all and he had to make sure that he didn't get any spots or blemishes.

Looking into the mirror, he gaped at the his reflection in the mirror. He ran his hands through the parting of his hair and pulled some strands in front of his eyes to inspect what had happened to him.

'How am I supposed to explain this to my father?!'

He now knew what his insufferable kwami had been laughing about less than a minute before. Knowing Plagg, he probably had something to do with it as well.

His usually blond hair wasn't it's natural light colour anymore. Instead, it had turned from sandy blond to pitch black, resembling the colour of his suit when he became Chat Noir.

"Adrien!" He heard a muffled voice yell from the other side of the door. "You need to leave for school soon. You're already running late."

Nathalie.

Looking around his room, he grabbed the first hat that he saw so that he could attempt to cover his hair just in case she came inside. It was a black beanie that he'd had to wear for a photoshoot a few days prior and he was thankful that it would blend in if his newly dark hair decided to poke out from underneath.

"Plagg, why has this happened?" He asked as he stood in front of the mirror, adjusting it so that the hair underneath was hardly visible. "My hair was blond last night."

Plagg hummed and placed one of his paws on his chin, contemplating what could have possibly happened. He could vaguely remember a few of his other holders going through a similar situation in the past.

"It's simple really. You overused your powers yesterday so now you have to endure the side effects of it." Plagg explained from his perch on Adrien's shoulder.

Yesterday, he and Ladybug had to deal with an array of various akumas that had each attacked at different points throughout the day. There had been four of them in total and he'd used his cataclysm five times. That must be the overuse of magic that Plagg was talking about.

"Adrien!" He heard Nathalie shout from the other side of the door again, this time more urgently.

He quickly grabbed his bag and opened it, letting Plagg fly inside, before he ran past Nathalie and through the mansion towards the car that was already waiting for his arrival outside.

He could see his bodyguard, the gorilla as he liked to call him, sending him a confused glance through the rear-view mirror of the car.

It was unusual for Adrien to wear hats unless it was his job or, at a stretch, if it was currently winter. But right now they were in the middle of summer and hardly anyone was wearing a hat, even Nino had his hat off a lot more than he'd been wearing it.

When he arrived at school, Chloé walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek as she usually did to greet him every morning. There had been a few times where she aimed for his lips instead but he'd managed to skilfully avoid those.

"Good morning Adrikins!" She greeted with a grin on her face as she unwrapped her arms from around his neck.

She frowned when she saw the black beanie he was wearing. "It's summer, why are you wearing that thing."

She then reached out to touch the hat and, before Adrien could realise what she was going to do, pulled it off of his head to reveal a mop of black hair underneath.

She gasped and dropped the hat at her feet, a look of shock showing on her face as she ran her hand through some of his hair.

Adrien could see that the people around them had now noticed his black hair and a few of them were whispering to each other about it. He also saw a few people with their phones out, they'd probably taken photos of him.

"Since when did you dye your hair?!" Chloé exclaimed in disbelief, shaking her head. "How did your father even approve of this?"

"Well, the thing is," Adrien said with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "He doesn't actually know. I didn't even know until this morning." He continued, mumbling the last sentence, and heard Chloé gasp at him once again.

"I'll help you bleach it at lunch." She stated and turned around, strutting off towards Sabrina who was waiting by the main entrance for her.

"But-"

"No buts!"

Adrien sighed as Nino approached him and patted him on the back before picking up Adrien's hat from the floor where Chloé had left it.

"I think it looks cool, dude." Nino reassured as the two boys made their way to class. Adrien made sure to cover his hair again with the beanie but, knowing that a lot of people had already seen his new hair colour anyway, he left the stray strands sticking out from underneath instead of tucking them away like he had before.

At lunch, Adrien found himself at Le Grand Paris. Chloé had grabbed him by the arm as soon as the lunch bell rang. The two of them then headed straight to the hotel in her limousine before Adrien could protest.

Chloé had called Nathalie during their limo ride to tell her that Adrien would be eating lunch with her today instead of at home, knowing that the woman would allow the exception due to how long Chloé and Adrien had been friends.

"Why isn't this working, Jean Jacque?" The blonde haired girl complained as her butler tried to bleach Adrien's black hair. But, no matter how much they tried, it wouldn't work.

"Sorry mademoiselle, I'm not sure." He apologised causing a groan of frustration to come from Chloé as she picked up a nail file from the bathroom counter and started to angrily file her nails.

"Ugh, we have to go soon anyway. You may go." She responded, continuing to file her nails as her butler washed all of the bleach out of Adrien's hair.

Chloé then grabbed Adrien by the arm for the second time that day and dragged him back to the limousine so that they could head back to school.

When they made it back at school, Adrien remembered to place his hat back on his head again as Chloé sauntered off to Sabrina who was waiting for her with a folder cradled in her arms. It probably contained Chloé's homework.

"Why didn't the bleach work, Plagg?" Adrien whispered into his collar where his kwami was currently hidden from the view of everyone else in the school. He made sure that he kept looking where he was going, rather than at his kwami, as he made his way to his classroom.

"It's magic, Adrien. No matter how many times you try to bleach it you won't be able to get rid of it." Plagg responded, nibbling on a small slice of cheese.

Adrien gritted his teeth in annoyance. He didn't want to be stuck with black hair. His father was going to throw a fit when he found out that his hair won't go back to its natural blond.

"Calm down, kid, it's only temporary."

"That would have been useful to know before we tried to bleach it." Adrien lamented as he glared at Plagg. "How long is temporary, anyway?"

"Depends on the person. For previous holders, one time it was a week and another it was a few months." Plagg responded as he flew into Adrien's school bag. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be enjoying my delicious camembert."

As Adrien sat down, he became lost in thought about this situation involving some sort of wonky miraculous magic. His hair could be stuck black for a week, for months or anywhere in between. Knowing his luck, he'd be the first one to have it last a few years.

After school, Adrien walked as slowly as possible so that he wouldn't have to face his father any sooner than he needed to. He's been anxiously waiting upon seeing his father's reaction to his new hair colour all day long.

As he got to the steps he felt a nudge from behind and turned around to see that Marinette had just bumped into him. Not to far behind her, Alya was stood snickering to herself as she walked over to Nino.

"S-Sorry," She apologised, looking as if she was hesitating to add on something else. "I-I like your new hair, it makes you look handsome. Not that you weren't handsome before! I- I mean, I just. It looks good." She rambled out, waving her arms around animatedly.

He chuckled at her usual nervous rambling and smiled comfortingly at her as she tried to cover the blush on her face.

That's when he noticed something.

Much like himself, Marinette was wearing a hat that covered all of her hair even though they were now in the hottest part of summer. From the large bump at the back of her head he assumed that she had put it up into a bun rather than her usual pigtails.

"Why are you wearing a hat?" He blurted out. He didn't mean to pry but it was too late now as he'd already asked the question.

'For a similar reason as to why you are!'

She wanted to say. She had woken up to an absolute nightmare involving her hair that morning and was currently hiding it from everyone. She didn't even let Alya, her best friend, see.

"I-er. Bad hair day?" She excused, laughing nervously as her voice raised an octave.

"Well, lucky for you, I've picked up a few things from modelling about hair care so I can...help." He trailed off as he began to lift the hat from her head only for her to pull it back on before it was fully taken off.

But he had already seen it. Her hair was its usual colour for the most part but it had become an ombré red. He wondered why she was hiding it though, it actually suited her. It was cute.

"Sorry. Gotta go, bye!" She exclaimed and ran off to Alya, burying her face in her hands when she reached her, which left a confused Adrien behind on the steps.

"It won't work, Nathalie, Chloé and I already tried at lunch." She teenage boy protested as his father's assistant tried to bleach his hair just as Chloé's butler had done earlier on that same day.

After they washed all of the bleach out they headed down to his father's office where he was currently working on the next fashion line.

He looked up from the design he was currently working on when he heard the door opening and sighed in frustration when he saw that his son's hair was still the same dark shade of black.

"Adrien, why did you decide to dye your hair?" Gabriel inquired, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

'Oh no.'

"I...I thought it would look cool?" He tried to lie but he could see from the look on his father's face that he already knew that Adrien was lying.

"Sir, Adrien's change in appearance has caused a positive impact on social media." Nathalie stated, looking up from her tablet and turned it around so that they could see the posts. "His fans seem to like his new look."

"I see." Gabriel hummed in contemplation, letting out a sigh a few moments later. "I guess we'll just have to wait until it fades out."

Bonus: 159 words

Chat Noir bounded across the rooftops with a carefree grin on his face as the wind blew through his now black hair.

Spotting Ladybug waiting for him on the Eiffel Tower, he leaped over and landed next to her.

Because of the darkness veiled around them, it would have been hard to see her figure. But he had night vision which meant he could see her clearly.

She turned around and gasped when she saw what the side effects of his magic had done to him.

And that's when he noticed her hair.

It was ombré red. Just like he remembered seeing Marinette's earlier on.

She pointed a shaky hand out at his hair, her breathing becoming uneven. He could feel his heartbeat quickening as he came to the shocking realisation that his friend and partner were one in the same.

By this point in time, the truth had already dawned upon both of the superhero duo.

"ADRIEN?"

"MARINETTE?!"


End file.
